I would gladly pay a grand for such a device, provided it's free of problems. Therefore I will wisely wait for early adopters to be the guinea pigs, for the manufacturers to fix the bugs, and for reviews to come out before plopping down the money.

The whole idea behind the Kno is that it's not meant to be a notebook replacement, but a tool to help you manage text books, school work, and studying. Using a stylus on any touch surface to take notes is a less than pleasant experience but the stylus has a battery in it, so it must do something special to make the experience smoother. The whole idea of mainly using the stylus to take notes is because you cement what you've learned better when you write it, not type it. We shall see. I was informed on Sat. that I won't be getting my Kno for Xmas but it will ship out the day before my bday and should arrive the day after. So... now it'll be my birthday present. The only PIA is that school starts the week before.

Location: The Olympic Peninsula on the OTHER Washington! (the big green clean one on the west coast!)

Device: Kindle, the original! Times Two! and gifting an International Kindle

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

As a software developer I'm used to buying reasonably high-spec machines, so $1000 seems pretty modest to me. The most recent laptop I bought cost £850 (about $1300).

yeah, but you are in the industry. I'm a semi-professional skier, it makes sense for me to drop a grand or better on skis, even more than one pair of skis. it doesn't make sense for the casual skier to do that

A $400 laptop will NOT suffice for the average college student. That is a really cheap laptop and will not handle things that the average college student wants.

What are you studying? Advanced Maths? Computer sciences? I am a student and use my Asus netbook for everything. In fact I use it a lot more than the brand new piece of hardware sitting on my desk at home. I've written entire essays while sitting outside under a tree at University. Arts based subjects only require research and writing, no number crunching or awesome graphics. People used to do it with a library and a notepad.

That makes sense, but most students don't do that. The majority can get buy on low end machines.

Tablets are overpriced, so netbooks are a far better tool for the average student. They're much cheaper (half the cost) and better spec'd, giving the student more functionality.

I have both a netbook and a tablet. If I had to choose between the two, I'd take my netbook in a heartbeat.

I think you need to actually look at the prices of systems and talk to some students. If you go to bestbuy.com, they only have 6 laptops that are less than $400. Even then, a couple of those are $399.99, so they will actually cost well over $400 at the register.

Those 6 systems, are the worse ones that Bestbuy,.com sells. You are talking about small screens, low memory, small HDs, bad graphics, and slow processors. All put together in a cheap package.

What are you studying? Advanced Maths? Computer sciences? I am a student and use my Asus netbook for everything. In fact I use it a lot more than the brand new piece of hardware sitting on my desk at home. I've written entire essays while sitting outside under a tree at University. Arts based subjects only require research and writing, no number crunching or awesome graphics. People used to do it with a library and a notepad.

If you want only a word processor, then get one. Most students use their computer for a lot more than that. I have 2 college students in my house right now. Also keep in mind that usually Asus costs a whole lot more than $400. They only have one Asus listed for price range, and it is really designed mainly for web surfing and word processing. It would choke on anything much harder than that. I bought for one student and had to return it.

(BTW, the reason I keep having so many kids is that I take in teens that are abused and/or kicked out by their parents. Right now my wife and I have 3 teens that are not our biological kids. )